In body armor, helmets and sporting automatic rifles, they seemed more suited for a war zone than the woods of East Bridgewater as they prepared to search for several armed men.

They weren’t alone.

In the parking lot of the TJ Smith Victorian House on nearby Cross Street, dozens of police cruisers and vehicles from two dozen communities had gathered as men suited up, K9 officers and their dogs prepared, and officers from various agencies coordinated their search.

That’s because off North Central Street on Tuesday, these weren’t just the woods of East Bridgewater anymore, but an active search area for several armed men, who had robbed a home earlier.

Now, they had a small army called SEMLEC after them. It stands for Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, but it represents an impressive show of firepower, planning and coordination on the part of 28 southeastern Mass. law enforcement agencies.

Small-specialized units make up the multi-jurisdictional unit, which include a SWAT team, K9 handlers, search and rescue experts, negotiators and emergency medics, all of whom responded Tuesday.

“Obviously, they demonstrated in the house they were willing to use force and they brought the arms to do that,” said Bridgewater Police Chief Christopher Delmonte, who assisted in the response. “You would want as many resources available to make sure that nobody gets hurt.”

By mid-morning, area residents saw the response for themselves as vehicles and officers rumbled into the region in cruisers, SUVs and armored personnel carriers.

But what may have looked like chaos to them was actually a well organized, tactical response that saw seven people arrested that day, and three cars and a gun seized, all without further incident.

Two more suspects were arrested later in the week.

Fifty police officers, including patrolmen, investigators and tactical experts came from as far away as Dartmouth and Fall River to the rural town of 14,000 residents to assist.

Many residents who live on North Central Street and on streets nearby said that although the robbery in their typically quiet neighborhood was unsettling, seeing the large police presence brought comfort to a scary situation.

“If it was me, I would want everything done if they broke into my house at 4 a.m.,” said Diane Springhetti, 50, of East Bridgewater. “It just kind of makes me feel uneasy that it’s just so close to home, though.”

Sandy Goode has lived on North Central Street for 35 years. She has never seen so many police officers on her street, but she was glad they were out there.

“It was an excellent response because it made us all feel very safe,” Goode, 62, said. “It was handled very well. I was proud of everybody involved.”

Page 2 of 2 - Andrew Ferland, 28, who lives near North Central Street, thought the large police presence was unnecessary.

“It’s a little excessive, what they’re doing. (Driving) like 60-70 mph down a 30 mph street. Seeing a tank (SWAT vehicle) with guys hanging off of it,” Ferland said.

The police response was appropriate and justified given the circumstances, East Bridgewater Police Detective Scott Allen said.

“Certainly, we would be neglecting our duty if we didn’t provide as many police officers as possible to help secure that scene and then the surrounding area as well,” said Allen. “I would expect that the residents would want us, with a serious incident like that, to take every and all precautions to protect the crime scene, and more than that, to protect the public.”

Once officials learned that a shot had been fired in the house, and that the suspects were armed, SEMLEC was called in.

The training and expertise SEMLEC members utilized made them perfect candidates to respond in a situation such as Tuesday’s, Delmonte said.

“If you just called a whole bunch of police officers from different communities just to show up on the side of the road, you don’t have that organization,” he said. “In a case like that, it’s not chaotic. It’s very organized and it’s efficient.”

For Delmonte, who assisted under the command of East Bridgewater’s Chief Cowan, the effort paid off for police.

“It sounds like the guys did a very good job and the results speak for themselves,” Delmonte said.